What should I have done?

[rjack321]

So I would assume that, in the case of a member of one team receiving gas from a member of another, you would either reassign teams or pass the OOA diver back to one of his own team members.

Actually this is the exact reason why its safer to dive in a team of 3 vs. 2. Let's say you are diving 1/3rds. One is OOA. You can pass the OOA diver back and forth between the two remaining buddies, so you don't exit with one pair on their last breaths and one diver with 1/3rd remaining.

In this case with two teams of 2, having 2 major failures is a bit much. One OOA and then a lost buddy. Yes you knew that the lost buddy was at the surface and could probbaly see their light up there. But that's not always the case.

If this situation had happened in a cave or on the bottom of a tech dive sending the lone diver off solo to search is not wise. I'd keep the new team of 3 together. No sense in having 2 deaths, you've already got a pretty serious issue on your hands, the lost buddy is not really resolvable IMO.

 

[Peter Guy]

NO KOOL-AID!!!!!!!

NO Pixie Dust!!!!!!!

 

[Tavi]

Tavi, I didn't voluntarily go up to fix my feet. I had lost buoyancy control and then lost my boots, and had no way to fix an involuntary feet-first ascent except dumping gas, which I couldn't do fast enough. If I had had a problem I wanted to deal with on the surface, I would have signalled the other divers to let them know.

Now I understand. My wife does that every once in a while.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

NO KOOL-AID!!!!!!!

NO Pixie Dust!!!!!!!

Methinks thou doth protest too much ...

... so would'ja settle for a coupla margaritas in Cozumel? ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Tavi]

Carefull Peter. Are they making margaritas with Kool-Aid now??

 

[rjack321]

Methinks thou doth protest too much ...

... so would'ja settle for a coupla margaritas in Cozumel? ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

My thought exactly. Since when does it matter?

 

[Charlie99]

Rob -- You are right concerning what I think (in retrospect) I should have done -- that is, tell the two that the 4th is missing and I'm going up. I think (!) I was about to do that when I saw her light coming down and thus the dilemna was solved.

After thinking about this on the way home, I concluded I should have immediately signalled to the other two that the 4th was missing and that I was going after her.

Slap the Tech 1 guy up alongside the head and go get your wife!

Having done quite a bit of diving in groups, I've come to the conclusion is that virtually always the right response is to "go with the weak/in trouble/unknown state diver, even if that means breaking my buddy team".

My buddy should be watching me, so if the situation is such that I need to act immediately without notification of him, then that's what I'll do. He should soon figure out what is going on and come after me. Obviously, if possible, I tell my buddy, then we go together.

 

[KMD]

I wouldn't treat the response any differently because it's a training dive ... the whole purpose of training dives is to ingrain the responses that you would use in a real situation.

Regardless of prior buddy team commitments, once two divers are connected to a common regulator, they ARE a buddy team. The "odd man out", must respond accordingly. In this case, Peter became Lynne's buddy by default. The most effective possibility would've been to adjust to that role, communicate it to the two linked divers, and respond to the need of his new buddy.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob, I would somewhat disagree with you on this. In any training dive the real emergency always trumps the simulated/training emergency.

One option for Peter as the "Odd man out" or a better discription might be "the diver with the greater situational awareness" is that is is in his right to go to the divers, terminate the drill and thumb the dive.

I understand where you are coming from on more advanced dives where the option to punch out is either not available or inadvisable but this was neither.

I know I would think harshly of myself if I was in a situation where a buddy got hurt or had a near miss, but gosh darn it, I successfully completed that valve drill!

 

[rjack321]

This is what happens when you don't have a unified team...

 

[KMD]

Referring to posts #65 and 66, do you assign buddy ID-tags in DIR team, ie member # 1, 2, 3? I thought so - so then what are the hand signals for, say member #2? (eg, where is #2??)

Is Bob's description of team re-arrangement after some members hooking onto common reg the DIR way of understanding it? Ie, buddies will change even if dive plan had designated different teams? Thanks

Team numbers can change all the time. They tend to be more job specific then people specific. Ideally everyone on the team can accomplish every job and will switch as the need arises.